Table Of Content

Cook, E., Willis, K., and Lozano, M. (2003). Alien Kilbride for closer examination in an aquarium, Invasion. Anewnon-nativeinvasivespeciesonthewest before beingreturned to the estuary the following cCTOHorahbaureassrnttiLasiocoTnfenina,Sm)ece.aosntHSl(.Say1Jonn.5cdoi.pJesuStl(eyAy1s9oM24ofS04fL0)tN4o.he)new.dsBoAlrneil.ttiiCtesaenhprrsF2epa8leu:clnii1aed2s.eacNoom.(eAs2m.puphnpid.epro1-dt2ah7,e. wmdseeaotylt.ltelyIetaedsspostfahlsneaednsksttseyhpdeiwctipahtrlehomcyhiaeanlreallncoittgwehirtbsilhsavtciitokcalieolftbirlfsiitsqnhudeeoaernnmsdoalu(tDbfihrip,onp,wetnroa-,ps microscopeatDunstaffhage. 1987). Platvoet,D.,DeBruyne,R.H.,andGmeligMeyling,A.W. LesserWeeversweredescribedas“veryrare”inthe (1995). DescriptionofanewCaprella-speciesfromthe ClydeSeaAreabyBagenal,(1965)althoughHaliday NAemtphheirplaonddas,:CaCparperlleildleaa).macBuhloletinnovZ.osopelco.gisc(hCruMsutsaceeuamn,, i(n196K9ar)nreescorBdaeyd,juMvielnliploerst.arouSnidnc1e.5-t2hcenmltohnegynehtatveed 15(1),1-4. periodicallyturnedupinKarnesBayandtherehave ScotlandonSunday(7September2003).Shrimpinvasion beenoccasionalstingingincidentsthereandonthe pTnDSaoioutsenniemodvsehaeyoyt,esheT,rTa.?eiaD.lmt.,ief,teso.Con(Kap1at1lnieevay,ep,rsihlFLe..,2l,l0f0NiJ4saa)huc..kgsAholtnio,enn,Di.nOv.a,s(i2Ko0en0n4in)s.ewdiyp,OinngS.oOtu.ht,e bBAliiuykotrelsltohyhgieirtchecaaoltlcdmoSnoatesdasttesiroao(nftJeiMSmicnlolutAptmtoibrksetih,rnwsspaoetanrer,sre.spUcmrnoeeimsvaemenn.rst)si.fatteywaIltlbMasatteriheimemnersess occurrence ofthe caprellid amphipod, Caprella mutica arelikelytocomeincontactwiththefish. Asthefish Schurin1935,inIreland.IrishNaturalistsJournal.27(11), prefershallowsublittoralwatersthevulnerabletime 437-439. ispaddlingatlowwater. OnememberofSEPA’s Willis, K.J., Cook, E.J., Lozano-Femandez, M. and staffremembersbeingstungbyaweeverfish,asa ptcThraoeeknsefecueancrptherainet,clieloi1n.don(&a2m0tp0Ah3hbe)si.tpbrioaodcAltqo)Cug.aaypcSruatelnltdAlunardcemorunerttewrilsoca,lat.edoC6faitnshnaetdarialon,idtcueecr1tn-ia(4otPniosJosuntloaeylrf bwHoaeyssiunbbes1fe9oq7ru1eenattlhyeGlcaabspnetacucaramerdedoacnmhdorBkeeiallceh“den(tnvheiearrofinsMmhae.lnltaTaihlgil).sy 2003. aware”!(PatDuffy,SEPA,/7er.s.comm.). Willis, K.J., Cook, E.J., Lozano-Femandez, M. and TheoccurrenceofajuvenileLesserWeeverinthe Takeuchi,I.(2004). Firstrecordofthecaprellidamphipod, ClydeEstuarydoesappeartobeunusualandsuggests Caprellamutica, fortheUK. JournaloftheMarine thatapopulationofadultsmaybepresentnearby. BiologicalAssociationoftheUK. 84:1027-1028. However, monitoring of the estuarine fish communitiesbetweenDumbartonandBowling(and ALESSERWEEVERFISHECHIICHTHYS fcuarrtrhieerdoduotwfnourthteimeesstauayreyaratsiPniclela1r97B9anakn)dnhoasLebseseenr VIPERAINTHECLYDEESTUARY Weevershaveeverbeenrecorded. Thenearestrecord MylesO’Reilly ofanotherLesserWeeverappearstobeaspecimen ScottishEnvironmentProtectionAgency heldbyGlasgowMuseumstrawledbetweenDunoon RedwoodCrescent and Innellan in 1976 (Richard Sutcliffe, Glasgow EastKilbride,GlasgowG745PP Museums, pers. comm.). It is possible that [email protected] distributionsofsomeestuarinefishspeciesmaybe shifting in response to environmental changes The Lesser Weever {Echiichthys vipera) with its whether these be localised water quality venomousdorsalspinesiswellknownasahazardto improvements, sedimentary changes or perhaps bcaotmhemrosnanfdurtshuerrfernsortinhsbouutthoecrcnurBsritianinc.oastItalisarleeasss bGultobiatliswtaononeianrgly(tSomistahy,w2h0e0t2h,erHitshceoacpkpeetaraaln,c2e0o0f4t)he- alongthenorthcoastofWales,theLiverpoolBay LesserWeever in the estuary is indicative ofany area and up into the Solway Firth (Parker- trend. Humphreys, 2004). They appear to like sandy TheScottishAssociationforMarineScience(SAMS) estuariesandareverycommonintheRibbleEstuary hascarriedoutannualfishsurveysonanumberof inLancashire(SteveCoates, EnvirorunentAgency, shoresinwesternScotlandbetween2002and2005 pers. comm.). They feed on a variety ofsmall (MikeBurrows,pers.comm.2005). LesserWeevers crustaceans(Vasconceloseta/.2004). were caught in NW Scotland at Mellon Charles, TheScottishEnvirorunentProtectionAgencySEPA Firemore, and Ganavan, near Oban at Tralee and (and its predecessor the Clyde River Purification Ganavan,andinLochsSweenandCoalisport,andat Board) have undertaken assessment of the fish TayinloanontheKintyrepeninsula. IntheFirthof p(soepeulHaetinodnesrsionnth&eHCalmyidletoEns,tu1a9r8y6)f.orDouvreirng20royuetairnse CatlySdkeipanreesasthaenydwCearreracdaaulgehtanodnotnhetKhienAtyyrrsehpierneincsoualsat beamtrawlingon25”’May2004aLesserWeever at Ayrand Girvan. The numbers capturedwere wascaughtbetweenCrarmogandMilton,justwestof usually no more than 2-3 per survey though at the Erskine Bridge. Thejuvenile fish, about6cm FiremoreandGairlochupto 13and18respectively long,wastransportedalivetotheSEPAlabatEast wererecovered. Overall,between20and30were 157 captured per annum with 37 landed in 2005. However,thereisnoevidenceofanyincreasingtrend and press reports (Brown, 2005) that the Lesser Weeverswereundergoingapopulation“explosion” arequitemisleading. REFERENCES Bagenal,T.B.(1965). TheFaunaoftheClydeSeaArea. Fishes. ScottishMarineBiologicalAssociation,Millport. 38pp. Brown,A.(2005). Paddlersinperilaspoisonousweever fishhitthebeach. TheScotsman,6August2005. Dipper,F.(1987). BritishSeaFishes.UnderwaterWorld PublicationsLtd.,London.194pp. Halliday,R.G.(1969). RarefishesfromtheClydeSea Area.JournalofNaturalHistory9,309-320. Henderson,A.R.&Hamilton,J.D.(1986). Thestamsof fishpopulationsintheClydeEstuary. Proceedingsofthe RoyalSocietyofEdinburgh90B,157-170. Hiscock, K., Southward, A., Titley, 1., & Hawkins, S. (2004). Effectsofchangingtemperatureonbenthicmarine lifeinBritainandIreland. AquaticConservation:Marine AndFreshwaterEcosystems 14,333-362. Parker-Humphreys,M.(2004). Distributionandrelative abundanceofdemersalfishesfrombeamtrawlsurveysin theIrishSea(ICESDivisionVila)1993-2001. Science Series Technical Report No.120, CEFAS Lowestoft,68pp. Smith,P.(2002). UnusualSummerVisitorstotheClyde SeaArea. UniversityMarineBiologicalStationMillport, 32"^^AnnualReport2001-2002,pp.4-5. Vasconcelos,R.,Prista,N.,Cabral,H.,Costa,M.J.(2004). FeedingecologyoftheLesserWeever,Echiichthysvipera (Cuvier,1829),onthewesterncoastofPormgal. JournalofAppliedIchthyology,20(3),211-216. 158